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Barcelona terror attack: Spain hunts for van driver

Barcelona terror attack: Spain hunts for van driver

Spain mounts a sweeping anti-terror operation after a suspected Islamist militant drove a van into crowds in Barcelona, killing 13 people before fleeing, in what police suspect was one of multiple planned attacks.

MH370 plane window or sewing machine?

New plastic debris found on Reunion Island reported to be a possible "plane window" is likely from a sewing machine, say police at the scene.

But a man called Bruno has found a piece of plastic on Reunion Island that he believes may be a window frame from missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

The latest find by potentially opportunistic beachcombers is a foot-long moulded plastic fitting which Bruno, who only gave his first name, found while jogging along a path by a St-Denis beach on Tuesday.

That an object with a striking resemblance to a Sears Kenmore sewing machine side panel could draw police, media and onlookers to a beach and generate global headlines speaks to the intense interest in Reunion Island's wreckage hunt.

The beach where Bruno claims to have found the object is within a few hundred metres of the site where another mysterious piece of debris was discovered on Sunday, also found by Bruno.

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Initial reports speculated the object found on Sunday could be a plane door but Chinese internet sleuths believe it is a cheap stove kettle and Malaysian authorities say it's part of a domestic ladder.

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In the latest development, Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss confirmed on Wednesday morning that Australia – at the invitation of the French judiciary – will help with the investigation into the B777 wing flap found last week.

Bruno, wearing a yellow top, says he found the plastic object while jogging along a St Denis beach. Photo: Colin Cosier

Joining the search is neighbouring Island state Mauritius which has responded to a Malaysian Government request for region assistance in locating debris.

Mauritius' acting Prime Minister released a statement on Monday pledging to mobilise the country's "air and maritime assets in the search operations" while appealing for "shipping and pleasure crafts to be on the look-out".

"There are numbers on the bottles that you can still clearly see. You could trace them," he said, adding he would hand them to the French Gendarmerie on Wednesday.

An unknown quantity of beach debris has been handed over to the Island's authorities for investigation.

Standing on a rocky beach holding Bruno's latest debris find in her hands, National Police Brigadier Gisele Cadar immediately casts doubt over its possible connection to the Malaysia Airlines flight which disappeared on March 8 last year, while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

"It might resemble the back of a plane window or rather the part where the masks fall but right now I can't tell you anything.

"It makes me smile a little because it might as well be from a sewing machine," she told journalists gathered on the beach.

When National Police officers arrived at the scene, Bruno led them and about a dozen gathered journalists to the plastic item he had hidden on the beach.

The middle-aged man would not reveal the location of the object before police arrived prompting journalists to scour the rocky beach looking for the item.

Bruno later asked the police to drop him home. He left the scene before answering further questions or providing his contact details.

Speaking over a mobile phone on the beach, Brigadier Cadar asked for instructions and described the object in detail, turning it over in her hands for close inspection.

"The round bit makes me think of the back of a plane window or a sewing machine or the box in which they keep the safety items like the masks maybe," she said.

The Brigadier later placed the plastic item in the boot of a patrol car and left the scene.